IN the face of growing security concerns triggered by a surge in the incidents of terrorism as well as lawlessness, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi has held out an assurance that comprehensive security arrangements are in place to conduct elections in a peaceful environment. Briefing foreign observers and media-persons ahead of February 08 polls, he said there would be a three-tier security for elections. Police would be in the first tier, Rangers and Frontier Constabulary would perform duty in the second tier, while the Pakistan Army would constitute the third tier of security as a quick response force.
There is no doubt that the Pakistan Army, intelligence apparatus and law enforcing agencies are capable of providing necessary security cover for the smooth conduct of the polls but the task is indeed daunting because of conspiracies being hatched by some local elements and foreign forces in their bid to malign the country and create hurdles in the way of the democratic transition. The resolve of the Government, as expressed by the Minister, not to allow anyone to indulge in violence in the name of political activity and sabotage the quintessential democratic exercise of conduct of free and fair elections notwithstanding, there are genuine apprehensions that some elements might try to create a law and order situation to advance their own agenda. The violence that people witnessed during PTI’s public meeting in Karak on Sunday sent shockwaves throughout the country as several people were injured and public property was widely attacked, prompting fears that this could become a norm in different parts of the country on the polling day due to negative propaganda against the electoral exercise and the stakes involved. There have been terrorist attacks on leaders and political gatherings and based on intelligence reports, Balochistan Government has already imposed a ban on public meetings and electoral gatherings in the provincial capital. The step has been taken in “response to a terror alert”, indicating the presence of a suspected female suicide bomber in Quetta. And according to the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), 15 political figures in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa received threats from extremists in connection with the upcoming general election. The Information Minister had a point when he said that law and order and terrorism were not new issues in Pakistan, as it has been battling the scourge of terrorism for the past few decades but it would be Herculean task to provide fail-proof security cover to 90675 polling stations across the country. It is the responsibility of the caretaker Governments at the Centre and in provinces to take necessary steps to ensure conduct of elections in a peaceful, transparent and fair manner. However, we have been pointing out in these columns, time and again, that closure of Internet services on the pretext of security is suicidal for national economy as frequent shutdowns shatter confidence of investors and the companies already operating in Pakistan. This unpredictability about the IT and telecom services has become one of the major hurdles in the way of sectoral growth. In this backdrop, it is lamentable that the Balochistan Government has already decided to keep the Internet Service restricted in the sensitive polling booths in certain areas of the province in the lead-up to the February 8 polls citing dire security risks due to a spike in terrorist attacks. As per provincial caretaker Information Minister Jan Achakzai, there was a risk that the terrorists might use the social media platforms as a means of communication for their nefarious plans. The plea might be genuine but what about people and especially candidates who are depending too much on social media to spread their message in the face of a precarious security environment. Some circles are rightly describing it as a direct attack on freedom of expression and a violation of fundamental rights. There are rumours that Internet services might also be closed or restricted in other parts of the country and should that happen it would be construed by propagandists as part of the alleged rigging plans. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja had ruled out any possibility of communications and Internet Service outages on the polling day and one hoped he would deliver on this pledge.
